Bio-hydrocarbons
[Due to the increasing size of the archives, each topic page now contains only the prior 365 days of content. Access to older stories is now solely through the Monthly Archive pages or the site search function.]
NREL and Petrobras to Collaborate on Advanced Biofuels Research
November 21, 2008
The US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) have signed an agreement that could accelerate the development and international commercialization of advanced, second-generation biofuels. The announcement was made at the International Biofuels Conference in São Paulo, Brazil.
Petrobras and NREL have common interests in the development of next-generation biofuels technologies through biochemical and thermochemical routes from biomass. NREL conducts R&D related to techno-economic, environmental and sustainability evaluation of advanced biofuels in support of the US Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and other partners.
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Amyris Opens First Pilot Plant for Renewable Diesel Fuel
November 12, 2008
Amyris Biotechnologies, Inc. has opened its first pilot plant producing renewable diesel fuel, which it brands “No Compromise”. Amyris engineers new metabolic pathways in industrial microbes (bacteria or yeast) to produce a large range of molecules (isoprenoids) used in energy, pharmaceutical, and chemical applications via fermentation of sugar from plant-based feedstocks. The end product can be a “drop-in” hydrocarbon fuel. The renewable diesel project uses a modified yeast.
The pilot plant, which was completed in September, is an important milestone for Amyris towards its goal of developing and commercializing its hydrocarbon-based fuel, which it expects to bring to market in 2010.
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Air New Zealand and Boeing Sustainable Biofuels Test Flight Set for 3 December
November 11, 2008
Air New Zealand and Boeing set 3 December as the date for the airline’s sustainable biofuels flight from Auckland using a 747-400 jetliner. Conducted in partnership with Rolls-Royce and UOP, one of the airplane’s four Rolls-Royce RB211 engines will run a 50/50 blend of Jet A-1 and UOP’s “green jet” fuel—a synthetic paraffinic kerosene (SPK) derived from jatropha. (Earlier post.)
Air New Zealand now becomes the first airline to use a commercially viable biofuel sourced using sustainability best practices. Boeing, Air New Zealand and UOP have worked diligently with growers and project developer Terasol Energy to identify sustainable jatropha in adequate quantities to conduct thorough preflight testing.
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Newly Discovered Fungus Produces “Myco-Diesel” Bio-hydrocarbons
November 04, 2008
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| Colorized environmental scanning electron microscope photo of Gliocladium roseum, an endophytic fungus that produces myco-diesel hydrocarbons. (Photo courtesy of Gary Strobel.) Click to enlarge. |
A team led by Montana State University professor Gary Strobel has found an endophytic fungus, Gliocladium roseum (NRRL 50072), that naturally produces a large range of 55 different volatile hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon derivatives—a number of which are normally associated with diesel fuel. Accordingly, the researchers have termed the fungus’s output “myco-diesel”.
Extraction of liquid cultures of the fungus also revealed the presence of numerous fatty acids and other lipids. All of these findings have implications in energy production and utilization, the researchers concluded. A paper on the discovery appears in the November issue of the journal Microbiology.
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Terrabon to Open New Demonstration Facility Next Week for Biomass to Renewable Gasoline Technology
October 31, 2008
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| Terrabon’s pathway to renewable hydrocarbon fuel produces ketones, which are then processed using conventional refinery technology. Click to enlarge. |
Terrabon LLC, the developer of a carboxylic acid fermentation platform licensed from Texas A&M University for the conversion of biomass to fuel intermediates that can then be upgraded into industrial chemicals and renewable gasoline, will open its new Advanced Biofuels Research Facility in Bryan, Texas next week.
The facility, which will test the scaled-up commercial feasibility of the Texas A&M MixAlco technology (earlier post), will have a loading capacity of 400 dry tons of biomass, equal to a loading rate of five dry tons per day. The Company will use sorghum as the primary feedstock with the objective of producing organic salts and converting them to ketones, which can be converted to renewable gasoline.
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GM Developing Global Advanced Biofuels Program
October 13, 2008
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| A portion of the current biofuels component of GM’s roadmap to improved energy diversity and reduced emissions. Click to enlarge. |
GM has been steadily building a global advanced biofuels program as one element of its efforts to reduce the use of petroleum and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
The company’s approach goes beyond simply trying to generate support for flex-fuel vehicles (“Live Green, Go Yellow”, earlier post) and fostering an E85 refueling infrastructure in the US. The more aggressive focus on advanced biofuels has resulted in its investment in two emergent lignocellulosic ethanol companies—Coskata (earlier post) and Mascoma (earlier post)—as well as the establishment of a collaborative bioenergy research center based at Tsinghua University in China as part of its larger Global Energy System Center work.
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Two Independent Research Efforts Develop Similar Processes for Conversion of Sugars into Bio-Hydrocarbon Fuels
September 19, 2008
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| Schematic representation of reactor sequence used in Dumesic process providing a platform for the production of liquid transportation fuels. The proposed chemistries involved in the conversion of sugars and polyols over Pt-Re catalysts are shown schematically in the lower portion of the figure. The asterisks represent catalytic sites. Click to enlarge. Credit: AAAS |
Following independent paths of investigation, two research teams have developed similar processes to convert sugar—potentially derived from agricultural waste and non-food plants—into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and a range of other valuable chemicals.
Chemical engineer Randy Cortright and his colleagues at Virent Energy Systems of Madison, Wisc., developed their BioForming process in early 2006. Virent this week announced the publication of a several patent applications and a white paper disclosing the technical details of its technology to produce renewable transportation fuels. That announcement was followed by the publication of a separate discovery by chemical engineer James Dumesic and his team at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Dumesic (who was a co-founder of Virent with Cortright in 2002) and his UW Madison colleagues announced their findings in the 18 September 2008 online ScienceExpress, to be followed in print in the 18 October 2008 issue of Science.
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Startup Licenses Texas A&M Technologies for Direct Production of Hydrocarbon Fuels from Biomass; First Product to be 95 Octane Biogasoline
August 19, 2008
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| Overview of the Byogy process. Click to enlarge. |
Start-up Byogy Renewables has licensed processes for the direct conversion of biomass to hydrocarbon fuels such as high-octane gasoline or jet fuel from the Texas A&M University System. Byogy is planning to have plants up and running within 18 months to two years.
Byogy’s initial plans are to produce only gasoline—a 95 octane fuel with an energy content of 130,000 Btu/gallon—according to Benjamin Brant, Byogy’s President and Chief Operating Officer. Conventional retail gasoline is about 125,000 Btu/gallon. Brant said that Byogy may involve strategic partners in the near future that will help support the production of jet fuels (JetA or JP8), diesel or further fractionation/distillation of its initial cuts to separate high value aromatic compounds as biochemical feedstocks.
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New Zealand Awards NZ$45.6M for Alternative- and Bio-Fuel Research; LanzaTech NZ$12M Low-Carbon Gasoline Project Leads
July 27, 2008
New Zealand’s Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST) recently approved NZ$45.6 million (US$33.8M) in contracts for alternative- and bio-fuels research as part of a record NZ$785 million (US$582 million) in funding with more than two dozen research organizations in the foundation’s main 2008 investment round.
At the top of the awards for fuels contracts is a three-year, NZ$12-million (US$8.9 million) project by LanzaTech to develop a low-carbon biofuel that can be used with gasoline in blend ratios of up to 90% in older cars. LanzaTech is the developer of a process using bacterial fermentation to convert carbon monoxide into ethanol, and has backing from Khosla Ventures, among others. (Earlier post.)
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Researchers Develop Process for High-Yield Conversion of Lignin to Bio-Hydrocarbons and Methanol
July 18, 2008
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| Proposed routes for the conversion of lignin into alkanes and methanol. Click to enlarge. |
Researchers at Peking University (PKU) and the Institut des Sciences et Ingénierie Chimiques Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have developed a two-step process for converting lignin—a key component of plant cell walls—to alkanes (hydrocarbons) and methanol that obtains about 42 wt% C8–C9 alkanes, 10 wt% C14–C18 alkanes, and 11 wt% methanol—close to the calculated maximum.
The researchers, led by Professor Yuan Kou at the PKU Green Chemistry Center, published a report on their work 9 July in the journal ChemSusChem.
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Pennsylvania Legislature Passes Renewable Fuels Mandate; B20 and Cellulosic E10
July 05, 2008
Both houses of the Pennsylvania General Assembly have passed HB 1202, a bill requiring that transportation fuels sold in Pennsylvania include increasing amounts of biodiesel, synthetic diesel or renewable diesel (in diesel fuel); and cellulosic ethanol (in gasoline), based on levels of in-state production.
The General Assembly also passed a second bill, (Special Session SB 22) extending the Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant Program (AFIG) to provide funding of $0.75 per gallon for all biodiesel produced in Pennsylvania by Pennsylvanians and sold in Pennsylvania. The AFIG fund will rebate up to $5.3 million each year for the next three years, with no single producer receiving more than $1.9 million each year. No funding will be available for corn-based ethanol.
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Air Liquide Adding Major New H2 Production Unit for Neste NExBTL Plant in Rotterdam
June 25, 2008
In Rotterdam, Air Liquide has won a long-term contract to supply hydrogen to Neste Oil’s NExBTL Renewable Diesel plant. (Earlier post.) To meet Neste’s requirements, Air Liquide is investing in a new world-scale hydrogen production unit (Steam Methane Reformer, SMR) with a production capacity of 130,000 m3/hour.
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Syntroleum-Tyson Synfuel JV Receives Final Approval For $100M Bond Package
June 22, 2008
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| Dynamic Fuels will initially use Syntroleum’s Bio-Synfining technology (Step 3 in the diagram) produce bio-hydrocarbon fuels from oils, fats and greases. Click to enlarge. Source: Syntroleum. |
Dynamic Fuels LLC, the renewable synthetic fuels 50:50 joint venture between Syntroleum Corporation and Tyson Foods (earlier post), has received final approval from the Louisiana State Bond Commission for $100 million in tax exempt Gulf Opportunity Zone (GO Zone) Bonds to fund the building of the company’s first renewable synthetic fuels facility in Geismar, Louisiana.
Dynamic Fuels will initially use the Syntroleum “Bio-Synfining” process—a biomass-optimized third-stage of Syntroleum’s full Fischer-Tropsch-based synthetic fuels process—to produce renewable diesel and renewable jet fuel. Bio-Synfining in essence treats fats, greases and vegetables oils as a Fischer-Tropsch wax, and upgrades them to renewable diesel (R-2) and renewable jet fuel (R-8).
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Neste Oil to Build $1B NExBTL Renewable Diesel Plant in Rotterdam
June 13, 2008
Neste Oil will build an 800,000 tonne/year (about 240 million gallons US) plant to produce NExBTL renewable diesel in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Construction will start immediately and the facility is scheduled to be completed in 2011. Total cost of the investment is projected to be €670 million (US$1 billion).
Neste Oil announced its decision to go ahead with a similar-sized plant in Singapore in November 2007. (Earlier post.) Both plants are linked to Neste Oil’s goal of becoming the world’s leading producer of renewable diesel fuel.
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Sapphire Energy Introduces Algae-Derived Bio-Gasoline
May 29, 2008
Start-up algal biofuels company Sapphire Energy unveiled a renewable 91 octane gasoline that conforms to ASTM certification derived from algal a biocrude.
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NCSU to Produce and Test Renewable Diesel, Biojet and Biogasoline Fuels from Centia Process
May 20, 2008
The Biofuels Center of North Carolina has awarded North Carolina State University (NCSU) a $200,000 grant to further the development of Centia—a three-step thermal, catalytic, and reforming process that has the potential to turn virtually any lipidic compound into drop-in replacements for petroleum jet fuel, diesel, and gasoline. (Earlier post.)
During this 12-month grant, NCSU will build upon previous test results by demonstrating the end-to-end production of biofuels from a variety of feedstock sources. Starting with one or more North Carolina feedstocks—including crop oils, animal fats, and possibly algal oils—the university will demonstrate all the steps in the Centia process to produce multi-gallon batches of renewable diesel, JP-8/Jet A-1 compliant biojet fuel, and unleaded biogasoline.
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Neste Oil Launches 10%+ NExBTL Diesel Blend Commercially in Finland
May 06, 2008
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| NExBTL is produced by a refinery-based process that hydrogenates fatty acids from fats or oils. Click to enlarge. Source: Neste Oil |
Neste Oil has commercially launched a blend of its NExBTL renewable diesel (bio-hydrocarbon fuel), branded as Neste Green diesel, in Finland. Neste Oil guarantees that Neste Green diesel contains at least 10%. Neste Green is suitable for all diesel motors, according to the company.
Using the NExBTL component improves the air quality in cities due to reduced particle emissions and reduces also greenhouse gas emissions. Neste Green diesel will first become available in the metropolitan region around Helsinki after which distribution will be extended to other parts of Finland on a phased basis.
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Amyris and Crystalsev Form JV for Renewable Hydrocarbon Fuels; Renewable Diesel from Sugarcane by 2010
April 23, 2008
Amyris Biotechnologies, a synthetic biology company focused on developing renewable hydrocarbon biofuels (earlier post), and Crystalsev, one of Brazil’s largest ethanol distributors and marketers, are establishing a joint venture to commercialize advanced renewable fuels—including diesel, gasoline and jet fuel—made from sugarcane.
The partners are targeting their first product, a renewable diesel that works in today’s engines, for commercialization in 2010. Scale-up and testing work to date indicate that this fuel scales more quickly and economically than currently available biofuels, and reduces emissions by 80% over petroleum diesel.
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Shell and Virent Collaborating To Develop Biogasoline From Plant Sugars
March 26, 2008
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| Virent’s BioForming platform can convert a wide range of biomass-derived feedstocks to fuels and chemicals. |
Shell and Virent Energy Systems, Inc., are collaborating on a joint research and development effort to convert plant sugars directly into “drop-in” gasoline and gasoline blend components, rather than ethanol. Such biofuels and components can be used at high blend rates in standard gasoline engines, and could potentially eliminate the need for specialized infrastructure, new engine designs and blending equipment.
Virent is exclusive licensee of an aqueous phase reforming (APR) process—developed by its co-founders Dr. Randy Cortright and Dr. Jim Dumesic at the University of Wisconsin - Madison—for the conversion of readily available biomass-generated sugar feedstocks to carbon-neutral hydrocarbon fuels or hydrogen. (Earlier post.) The sugars can be sourced from non-food sources like corn stover, switch grass, wheat straw and sugarcane pulp, in addition to conventional biofuel feedstock like wheat, corn and sugarcane. The BioForming process is Virent’s first commercial application of the APR pathway.
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Continental Airlines, Boeing and GE Aviation Plan Biofuel Flight Test in 2009
March 13, 2008
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| The widely-used CFM56-7B engine is the target for the Continental-Boeing-GE biofuel flight test. Click to enlarge. |
Continental Airlines, Boeing and GE Aviation plan to conduct a biofuel demonstration flight in the first half of 2009 as part of an ongoing effort in the aviation industry to identify sustainable alternative fuel solutions. Continental is the first major US carrier to engage in such flight testing to highlight technological advancements in sustainable biofuels that can help to reduce carbon emissions.
The Continental Airlines biofuel flight will use a Boeing Next-Generation 737 equipped with CFM International CFM56-7B engines, using a blend of between 20%-50% of a second-generation biofuel in one engine. CFM is a 50/50 joint company of General Electric Company and Snecma (SAFRAN Group).
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Leader Ventures Puts $3M Into LS9
March 04, 2008
Leader Ventures, an investment firm offering blended debt and equity financing, has provided $3 million of equipment financing to LS9, a developer of hydrocarbon biofuels made from diverse renewable feedstocks.
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Centia Biofuels Process Produces Bio-gasoline Similar to Conventional Unleaded Gasoline
January 09, 2008
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| The three stages of the Centia process, with different reforming pathways for different fuels. Click to enlarge. |
Diversified Energy Corporation (DEC) has produced a bio-gasoline fuel very similar to traditional unleaded gasoline using its Centia process, licensed from North Carolina State University (NCSU).
Centia is based on a three-step thermal, catalytic, and reforming process that has the potential to turn virtually any lipidic compound—e.g., vegetable oils, oils from animal fat and oils from algae—into 1-for-1 replacements for petroleum jet fuel, diesel, and gasoline. (Earlier post.)
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Neste Oil to Build 245M Gallon/Year NExBTL Renewable Diesel Plant in Singapore
November 30, 2007
Neste Oil plans to invest approximately €550 million (US$812 million) to build a plant in Singapore to produce NExBTL Renewable Diesel. The plant will have a design capacity of 800,000 t/a—about 245 million gallons US annually—making it the world’s largest facility producing diesel fuel from renewable feedstocks to date.
The plant will be based on Neste Oil’s proprietary NExBTL technology for the high-pressure hydrotreatment of fatty acids—a second-generation biofuel process that produces a pure hydrocarbon fuel (bio-hydrocarbon). The process can use a flexible input of any vegetable oil or animal fat and produce a product with characteristics similar to Fischer-Tropsch output. (Earlier post.) The first NExBTL facility was commissioned in Finland at Neste Oil’s Porvoo refinery in summer 2007, and a second is due to come on stream there in 2009.
